Jogidas Patawat

A word given to a dying king

In the last years of Maharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur, the ageing ruler called his trusted thikanedars and said: "You are all guardians of Marwar. After me, I entrust to you the protection of my son." The sardars gave their word. Among the men he trusted was Jogidas Mukandasot Patawat, Thakur of Padiyal and Chakhu, whom Abhay Singh himself had appointed hakim of Phalodi.

Abhay Singh died in Samvat 1806 (1749 CE), and his son Ram Singh succeeded. But Ram Singh had little of his father’s grace. He slighted thikanedar after thikanedar, and one by one they crossed to his uncle Bakht Singh at Nagaur. A poet of the day put it in one breath:

रामै सू राजी नहीं, उतर दियो देश —
जोधाणो झाला करे, आव धणी बख्तेश!

"None content with Ram, the country slipped away — Jodhpur beckons: come, Lord Bakhtesh!"

"I shall come out only lying on my side"

When most of Marwar had gone over to Bakht Singh, he sent a Charan poet to Phalodi with an order: vacate the fort. Jogidas had his own grievances with Ram Singh — but he was bound by the word given to Abhay Singh. His answer to the Charan has been retold in Marwar ever since:

"उभो भड़ीयो हूं, सो आडो निकळसूं।"

"Poet, if it is you who want the fort, then together with the fort I surrender myself as well. But if Bakht Singh wants it, tell him: I stand here fighting upright, and I shall come out only lying on my side — that is, only my dead body will leave this fort. Tell this to the Maharaj."

The published clan history records the same man in the same year: "Jogidas Mukandasot, Samvat 1806, fought at Phalodi fort" — against the Nagaur forces. His stand fits the wider chronology exactly: Abhay Singh died in 1749, and the war between Ram Singh and Bakht Singh for Jodhpur followed at once.

The man and his line

Jogidas belonged to the Jaimalot branch of the Patawats: Jaimal → Gopaldas → Manohardas → Mukandas → Jogidas. His son Harisingh received Padiyal — and the thikana records add that when a Bikaner force was met in battle at Padiyal, the village of Godarli was granted for the service done there. The family’s later record of loyalty continued: in Samvat 1847 (1790 CE) a kinsman, Meghraj, served in the battle of Merta against the Marathas.

⌛ Under ReviewA question about Chakhu. Community tradition names Jogidas as Thakur of Padiyal and Chakhu. The Census of Marwar 1941, however, records Chakhu — at 2,000 rekh — under the Rupawat branch rather than the Patawat. Both statements may well be true of different periods, since villages changed hands between the two houses more than once. The History Committee is asked to settle when Chakhu was held, and by whom.

Sources: Patawaton ka Itihas (p.156); published thikana grant records; community tradition as retold in the Patawat Pargana community (couplet wording under committee confirmation); standard Marwar chronology. See Documents & Archives. Can you settle a point marked Under Review? Send your proof →

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